Sentimental Education. Part 3

A story of acquiring life wisdom through a cruel process of gradually losing all illusions—one of the favorite themes of French psychological realism. Yet few have managed to render this theme as deeply, cleverly, and ironically as Flaubert did in his brilliant novel “Sentimental Education” (“L’Éducation sentimentale”). Young Frédéric Moreau, who dreams of becoming a writer and is secretly—and hopelessly—in love with the beautiful Madame Arnou, a married woman (and faithful to a husband who does not deserve it, a contemptible scoundrel), must endure a long and difficult path from youthful idealism, purity, and naivety to a cold understanding of how this world is truly arranged—an experience that will turn bitter not only for him, but for a considerable number of women who had the misfortune to give him their hearts…